Double Helix
by Miss Starfire
Summary: Twelve years have passed since Tony, Pepper and Rhodey graduated from the Tomorrow Academy. Life has pulled them in many different directions. And now, a 30-year old redheaded superhero has a very important question to ask her blue-eyed genius friend.
1. Prologue

**A/N:** Quick side story to get the creative juices flowing, release school-related stress (Macroeconomics is a boring bitch), and to say to all my Faithful Readers: thank you for being so patient with me with _The Last Chronicle_ … and for being awesome :D

And, you have my hubby to thank for this story. He made one comment that I misunderstood and this fic was born.

 **Standard disclaimer for all my stories:** My stories are graphic, angsty, frustrating, filled with cliffhangers, drama and foul language. Read at your own risk – medical issues and subsequent bills are not covered by yours truly ;) If you don't like, please don't read. I appreciate reviews and constructive feedback but if you cannot stand the plot, save yourself and me some time and walk away. You don't have to love all IM stories :)

Remember that most of my stories, including this one, are written for the **half-screen** option here at FF. You'll see fewer line/paragraph breaks if you set the screen to half-screen.

 **Summary:** Twelve years have passed since Tony, Pepper and Rhodey graduated from the Tomorrow Academy. Life has pulled them in many different directions. And now, a 30-year old redheaded superhero has a very important question to ask her blue-eyed genius friend.

 **IMPORTANT:** The kiss at the end of the Makluan Invasion never took place in the continuity of this fic.

* * *

 **DOUBLE HELIX**

 **Prologue: Friday**

"No."

His answer to her unexpected and bewildering question escaped his lips almost immediately. It bounced against the old, partly crumbling walls of the Makluan Temple, only to then resonate in her ears louder than what she had wanted to hear his negative and declining reply. She was uncertain as to what was more hurtful for her at the moment: the fact that he had not hesitated to provide his retort, or the fact that he currently appeared to be appalled by her request.

Either one of these scenarios was bad news in her book for a myriad of reasons she could not begin to list, fathom and that she plainly did not want to dissect right at this very moment.

Nevertheless, she decided to pull through.

"Oh," she barely managed to say, trying and miserably failing to look as nonchalant as she wanted to seem. She opened her mouth to elaborate on her comment, to say anything else – whatever sound that first came to her mind that resembled any real word – but her lips just closed once more to swallow down the hard knot of disappointment, embarrassment and regret that threatened to gag her to death.

Her gaze fell to the floor, her lips and mouth suddenly dried, and had she not been resting against one of the multiple worktables Team Iron Man kept around to hold the increasing number of defense devices and weapons they had accumulated over their years of crime fighting, she would have disgracefully fallen flat on her ass.

For his part, Tony was as speechless as Pepper appeared to be. Never, in his more than a decade of knowing her, had he witnessed the rare spectacle before him; one in which the usually overconfident and chatty redhead had nothing to say.

How did she expect him to react, however, in a situation such as this? What kind of response did she expect to obtain from him to a life-changing request such as the one she had just asked him to consider granting?

This was nothing like all the other favors she had asked of him in the past. This was not like when she had asked him to build her a suit of armor before she was legally licensed to drive, or the multiple times she had asked to be taken into battle before she had mastered the X-51. This was definitely not like the time she had asked to borrow his vehicle to go on a twelve-hour road trip to a huge shoe sale across the state. This did not even come close to the time she had asked him to pretend he was her boyfriend to get some chump from her college-going years off her back.

No. This was not like any of those requests at all. This was the kind of request that, once granted, could not be shrugged off as a silly memory and forgotten with the passage of time as new memories were forged. This was the type of request that caused a paradigm shift in one's existence – the type that made one become something that they would remain until the day they died.

"I'm sorry," her eyes finally lifted but she did not stare at him. "I… I don't know why I thought it was appropriate to ask you that. I… I-I'm really sorry. Just… just please forget I asked, OK?"

 _Is she being serious? How can I?_

Was his best friend even aware that asking him to forget what had just transpired was nearly as impossible for him to do as what she had just asked him to do for her?

With her?

To her?

Evidently, she was not.

"Anyway," she clumsily began walking away from him, bag in hand, and towards the door. "I have to go, uh, back home now and… yeah. I… you… yeah… movie night tomorrow at Rhodey's, right? Right. Uhm… yeah… Yes. Well, huh, bye now!"

 _Bye,_ his mind repeated for him. _Wait:_ _bye? What? No! NO!_

"Pepper, wait!" his eyes aimed towards the spot she had been standing at seconds ago, but she was already gone.

* * *

 **A/N:** This will be a relatively short story; probably about the same length as _The Little Things_. Hope you like it already! And: what do you think Pepper asked him to do?


	2. Chapter 1

**Guest Review Responses**

 **YES! GUEST LOVE!**

 **apps: Awesome...dying to learn what she asked for and from the prologue it seems long way to go...Lovely...update soon...!?** **–** Thank you! This story is only 9 chapters long (including Prologue and Epilogue) and the chapters are pretty short and sweet. Let me know what you think of this one too!

 **A/N:** I amended the previous chapter to add this note: **"IMPORTANT:** The kiss at the end of the Makluan Invasion never took place in the continuity of this fic." This is crucial information to know :)

We also have some guest appearances in this chapter. I wonder if someone can figure them out.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Saturday**

Thankfully for her, it was a full house tonight at Rhodey's condo for the biweekly showing of the latest flick that preceded watching the sports match of the season. There were both familiar and unfamiliar faces among her – just as it was always the case – and even though she typically spent these special occasions mingling with the new crowd to get to know different people, she was currently unable and unwilling to do as she pleased. She felt as if, without any factual reason for it to happen, everyone was speaking about her behind her back about what she had encountered last night at the Makluan Temple. She swore she had heard her name spoken among mocking whispers and that everyone's eyes were on her, judging her for her inability to do things the _right way_.

What if her father got a whiff of what she had already done or what she wanted to do? What if S.H.I.E.L.D. found out about her intentions before she was ready to tell them? Would they send her on leave? Would they demote her without an opportunity to present her case?

And, more importantly at the moment: where the _fuck_ was the vodka for her cherry limeade drink?

 _Ugh! I should've just bought some on my way here,_ the redhead thought derisively, wanting nothing more than to intoxicate away the memories of last night.

Needless to say, she was only imagining things, as no one other than Tony and she knew what had transpired the night before. Rhodey had not been at the temple when she had asked Tony for the favor. She had kept her search extremely private by using a pseudonym on the doctor's and laboratory forms. Hell! She had not even used any of her electronic devices to peruse her medical options. She had, in fact, rented a vehicle, driven it to the next state, gone inside a computer store, and had used the devices there. She knew that thousands of people used the computers available on display, and that everything was reimaged overnight when said stores closed for the day.

Nevertheless, with the less than an infinitesimal chance that anyone present at this get-together would be currently aware of the true reason for her mortification and discomfort, she simply could not force her mind to forget about the awkwardness of last night… until something else did the trick for her.

"Hey, baby," a pair of arms surrounded her from behind by her waist before the slurred words made their way into her right ear, all accompanied by the owner of the voice licking the back of her neck, "Want to go make some babies with me?"

"HIYAH!"

The body of the highly-intoxicated male stranger that she had just flipped over and above her head was now on its back on the floor, by her feet. The commotion caused everyone to stop what they were doing, even if for just a second, until the crowd then realized that there was no real emergency: it was just _Wolowitz being Wolowitz_.

"What the hell?" the redhead grabbed a napkin and rubbed at her neck to dry it while she glared at the unconscious form of the unknown man – a man she would make sure Rhodey never, EVER invited over again.

"You OK?" a voice that Pepper knew too well and was surprised to hear at events such as these, made her feel somewhat at ease.

"Hey, Gene!" Pepper stared over her right shoulder and behind her to acknowledge the presence of her friend. "Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine… he's just…" she lightly kicked his head, "drunk… and now snoring…"

"Are you sure?" Gene placed a hand on her left shoulder.

"Yes, I'm sure," she tapped it twice with her own before she turned around in place and laced her hands together over her chest, a wide, expectant smile on her face. "Oh! Wait-wait! Did you bring vodka?"

"No?"

"Dammit!" her smile dissipated instantly, her arms dropped to her sides, and she frowned, causing Gene to tilt his head in confusion at her hyperbolic reaction to his response.

"Why would I bring vodka?"

"Why _not_ , Gene? Ugh! Nobody understands me! Oh-oh, I know!" she turned in place again, leaned towards the table that held all of the drinks – and side-stepped the snoring Wolowitz on the floor – grabbed a bottle of water by its bottom and top between her palms and then faced Gene once more. "Here: use your Makluan powers to turn this into vodka for me, please."

Gene was visibly taken aback by her unusual bid. Even though he had slowly rejoined the trio of heroes a year after the Makluan invasion had ended, and even if he had been spending more and more time with Pepper ever since she had joined S.H.I.E.L.D. after graduating from college and they sometimes worked together on certain more dangerous missions, he was never ready for the ginger's sudden and generally strange requests.

"That's not how it works. It's not alchemy, Pepper, and I'm not… God, I guess."

"Ugh! What good are you then?" she pouted, put the bottled water back on the table, grabbed the thin glass of her half-assed drink and took a sip of it, gagging when the rum replacement she had used in it burned her mouth and throat.

"It's nice to see you too, Pepper," Gene retorted with a hint of sarcasm that would have fooled someone other than her into thinking that he was insulted by Pepper's dismissive comment of his abilities when in fact he was amused by her antics. "Why do you want vodka, anyway?"

"Because my favorite drink," she shook the glass in her right hand, "requires vodka. I asked Rhodey what I should bring and he said 'nothing'. But look! There's no vodka! There's just whiskey, wine, beer, tequila, cider and rum! But vodka? Nope. No, sir. No –"

"Vodka, anyone?" a male voice behind Gene Khan said, and Pepper Potts froze where she stood.

"Stark," Gene addressed the inventor without staring back at him.

"Mandarin," Tony retorted, vodka bottle in hand, before his eyes landed on the redhead's hazel ones and he smiled at her. "Hey, Pep!"

 _CRACK!_

"Ouch!" she hissed.

"Pepper!" the cry for her name was unison, but it was Tony who made it to her first despite being two steps behind Gene. He shoved the vodka bottle into Gene's chest, not caring to find out if the Mandarin wanted to hold it in the first place or not, so that both of his hands were free to cradle Pepper's bloodied and cut right hand.

"Oh, shit, Pep!" Tony scrutinized the injury with care, unsure of what was blood and what was cherry limeade. "You may need stitches."

"Mmhhh?" was all she dared to say, her brain still stumped while trying to process how she had managed to harm herself without meaning to.

"Come on," Tony began leading her towards the closest bathroom, "Let's get this cleaned up. Gene, you got the broken glass, right?"

"Sure," Gene replied, his powers already working on picking up the mess and the passed out man from the floor, but he doubted that Tony had even heard his response.

Meanwhile, in Rhodey's guest bathroom, Pepper was at a loss at what to say or do. The last thing she had wanted to do at this party was to be alone with her blue-eyed friend, if for no other reason than not being ready to face him as if nothing had occurred. It was true that _she_ had been the one to tell him to forget about everything and it had been _her_ who had left the temple before he had had a chance to explain his answer, but in the back of her mind she was certain that she was not prepared to hear the numerous reasons she believed had influenced his declining of her request.

 _He doesn't believe me_ , she thought, and that motive alone hurt her more than hearing a 'no' from him on a decision she had considered long and hard before voicing it to anyone – especially to him.

"I guess S.H.I.E.L.D.'s training is making you Hulk-strong, eh?" Tony jested in an attempt to cut the tension he could feel building between them while he grabbed the first aid kit from the supply cabinet and began sorting through its contents, quickly determining what he would need to clean up the wound his friend kept staring directly at.

"I don't need your help," her reply had sounded less harsh in her mind – she was only attempting to somehow put some physical distance between them – but once her words were out, she knew she could not take them back.

Tony chuckled and smirked despite the spike of pain her callous words caused in him. He was not deterred from assisting her, however, hoping that his efforts to keep the conversation lively and casual aided in repairing something he felt their relationship had lost last night.

"I promise I won't use alcohol on it," his smile did not fade. "Whatever you poured into the drink probably killed all the germs there, right?"

"Stop it, Tony," she tried pulling her hand away from his incoming ones, but he held it in place and began cleaning up the blood from her skin.

"The bleeding, right?" his tone of voice remained cool and collected, as if he was not truly aware of the real intention of Pepper's words. "That's what I'm trying to stop, Pep. I don't think you'll need stitches after all, though. Now quit fidgeting or I'll hurt you more than help you."

"You mean hurt me _again_?" her words were uncharacteristically bitter, and for a second they both failed to recognize who the ginger was at the moment. Tony's left palm was facing up, acting as support for Pepper's right hand. His right hand was the one performing the nursing, and the moment her previous question was finished being uttered, his hand halted its movement altogether.

The loud swallow of what would have been his reactive retort to her hurtful words was loud enough for her to hear. Yet, the actual words never made it out. Instead, he silently continued to clean and patch up her hand, taking as much time as he could to complete the task.

For her part, Pepper eyed his calculated moves with remorse. She had not intended for her words to be so soul-cutting, her demeanor so cold. But the anger and shame had been rising within her as quickly as the bubbles inside a newly opened bottle of cider. They had just popped out the moment the cork had been undone, and had covered him in an undeserving shower of animosity and ache.

When he finished tending to her hand, he did not immediately let go of her. Neither did he face her as his fingertips trailed the pores of hers, slowly and tenderly, sending shocks of electricity up her arm and down to her heart. It was as if their fingers were swaying to a tuneless dance that neither of them wanted to stop. Against her better judgement, she partly flexed her fingers to join him in the silent dance, and he responded by uttering her name in a tone of unmistakable delight.

The door to the bathroom suddenly slamming open broke their precious moment, and the newcomer's body between them dissipated the mist of intimacy they had been surrounded by just seconds ago.

"Dude, Wolowitz is wasted!" a heavily-accented voice said from right outside the bathroom. "He's puking all over the toilet!"

The disgusting retching sounds made Pepper look away from the scene as bolting away from the room was currently not possible due to her standing between the corner of the room and the partly opened door.

"Rhodey!" Koothrappali, the man of Indian descent standing by the door, waved over his friend. "You're gonna need to nuke your bathroom!"

"What?" the Air Force Lieutenant suddenly appeared by Koothrappali's side. "Why?"

"Because Wolowitz is barfing in it!"

"Actually," Tony finally interjected with a look of revulsion on his face, "he missed the toilet by a mile."

Koothrappali's laughter only got louder when he understood what the inventor had implied and he pointed towards Tony's feet. "Dude! This is priceless! He threw up all over Tony Stark's shoes! Can I keep them?"

Tony's response was to turn around towards the bathtub to vomit there himself.

"Can _I_ have your bathtub?" Wolowitz asked with a hopeful smile once he straightened his back, trails of vomit residue still sliding down his chin.

Pepper covered her nose with the inside of her blouse when the stench of bile and regurgitated food and drink finally reached her face, and closed her eyes when she realized what she had almost done.

It was going to be a long week.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Here it be: another chapter of this side story! There is an explicit reference to another franchise and two hidden references to other franchises here. Can anyone guess what they are?

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Sunday**

Her eyes were staring directly at the television screen in front of her, and her hands were swiftly and adeptly pressing all the correct buttons on the controller to kick Rhodey's virtual butt. It was not odd for the two of them to hang out at Pepper's place, on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier nonetheless, only for the close friends to play hours of her favorite fighting game. What _was_ unusual, however, was for this particular activity to take place on a day like today.

The last bar of life for Rhodey's character finally died out, prompting the redhead to smile wide, cheer loudly, and then throw her arms in the air in a triumphant gesture. At least until she turned to face Rhodey, with every intent to point and laugh at his defeat, and her little party was thwarted when she realized her friend was not even anywhere near the remote.

"YOU AREN'T EVEN PLAYING?!" her voice was more high-pitched than customary, but after over a decade of knowing her, Rhodey had built a resistance to its impact on his ear canal. Or maybe he had just become partly deaf as a result and did not know it yet.

"What for?" Rhodey shrugged and pressed his back against the couch. "Not even the game itself can beat you. You're so good at it that trying to beat you is as efficient as me just sitting here doing nothing."

"If I wanted to play against nothing, I'd let the second player be the practice dummy."

"That's what anyone who plays against you is, Pepper! Well, except Tony, and only because he cheats by using Extremis on the game."

"Which is why I _don't_ play this game with him," she turned her head away from Rhodey, trying to hide the look of sadness and discomfort that hearing the inventor's name brought to her face.

"Which is why _I'm_ wondering why you're even here right now," Rhodey began, one eyebrow arched in obvious curiosity.

"Where else would I be? I live here, remember?"

"Yes, I know that," he rolled his eyes. "What I mean is: _why_ are you home _today_?"

Pepper pursed her lips, swallowed hard and grabbed the remote again to start a new game. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"It's Sunday, Pepper," Rhodey prompted, as if she could ever forget what today was.

"Yeah, so?"

"Aren't Sunday's your date days with Tony?" Rhodey replied and caused the ginger to groan.

"They're NOT dates, Rhodey! OK?"

"Oh, really?"

"Yes! Really!"

"Then, what are they?"

"Nothing," she said between gritted teeth, her fingers working almost independently from her mind. "They are nothing. It's just two friends hanging out. That's it."

"All day?"

"Rhodey –"

"No, really, Pepper. Because every Sunday morning for the past _seven_ years, you and Tony have met up at that breakfast place he likes so much, the one by his house. Then, you spend the first half of the day visiting some random place in the city – a museum, the zoo… or whatever. Then, you go try a different foreign cuisine restaurant for lunch. _Then_ , you two go to the movies, watch two or three movies back-to-back, afterwards go to the temple to get your suits and camping gear, and then fly _across the country_ to the Grand Canyon, set up camp and have dinner there, always choosing a different part of the canyon to spend the night. How the fucking _fuck_ is that _not_ a fucking date?"

Pepper paused the game, turned to her right to face Rhodey, narrowed her eyes at him, and then finally gave her response in a grave tone that she hoped sounded intimating to him.

"You know too much," she then returned her attention to the screen. "But they're not dates."

Rhodey shook his head in frustration. "Well, I think they are. And I just don't know why you're here on a Sunday."

"What you think doesn't matter! And what's with the third degree, Rhodey?" Pepper spat. "I already told you: I live here! What are _you_ doing here on a Sunday? Don't you usually meet up with your fiancée to go have sex in the back room of the weapons storage area?"

"You know too much," Rhodey deadpanned after a short silence on his part.

Pepper smirked. "Didn't think I know your routine, huh?"

"Yeah, you got me there," Rhodey begrudgingly admitted. "But I also know yours and I want to know why you aren't with Tony right now."

"UGH! There's no reason! I… I-I just didn't feel like it!"

"That's a reason," Rhodey shrugged. "But that's not the real one."

"What does it matter to you, anyway?"

"Well, Tony wouldn't tell me why either, so I thought he had fucked up. But now, you won't tell me either. So I'm not sure who's to blame for this lover's spat."

"It's. NOT. A. Lover's SPAT!"

"Then, what's —"

"Shut up!" Pepper slammed the controller on the coffee table, crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her chin up in the air in a petulant manner. "I don't want to talk about it. Because there's nothing to talk about. Because there's no reason. I'm totally fine! Everything's fine! Everything's peachy! It's better than fine! It's… normal!"

"Riiight," Rhodey tilted his head. "Just like asking Gene to convert water into vodka is totally normal."

"He told you that?" she watched him from the corner of her right eye.

"Yup," Rhodey nodded. "What did he do, by the way? He didn't elaborate much."

Pepper rolled her eyes. "He said he wasn't an alchemist or whatever. Or God. I think he just didn't want to help me get drunk."

"Or maybe he really couldn't," Rhodey offered before a mischievous smile appeared on his face. "I mean, the only alchemist I know ended up evaporating his brother's body while trying to revive his mom. And I think the other guy was more into wine than vodka. Makluan… Makluan don't strike me as the type of people that would go for alcohol, anyway."

"Well, Makluan suck!" Pepper replied. "If he were Vulcan, I'd have gotten my vodka right then and there."

"Vulcan?" Rhodey was unable to hide the tone of amusement in his voice. "If he were _Vulcan_?"

"Yes! Vulcan! Because thanks to the Vulcans introducing humans to faster-than-light travel, the Federation was formed, Starfleet produced the best engineers in the galaxy and they invented replicators, which would have generated my vodka out of thin air in seconds!"

Rhodey's eyes widened as he processed her response, blinked rapidly several times, and then furrowed his brow. " _Vulcan_?"

It took Pepper a few seconds to understand his apparent confusion, and once it dawned on her what she had just said, she blushed, whined and groaned as if she were just a year of age. "Ugh! I _so_ need to stop watching Star Trek with Tony!"

"Is that what you guys do on dates?"

"No! And they're _not_ dates!"

"Are you sure?"

"YES!"

"Positive?"

"Absolutely!"

"Well, that's funny."

"What's funny, _Rhodes_?"

"That you don't see your Sunday rituals as dates."

"And why is that funny?"

"Because Tony thinks they are."

Her bantering would-be response dissipated into thin air at his words and she instantly closed her mouth. She then looked away from a smirking Rhodey and down to her hands on her lap, her next words sounding as nothing more than a pained whimper that refused to come out. Had Rhodey not been sitting so close to her, he would have surely missed her wounded reply.

"That's a shame. That he does."

"Why?" Rhodey was at a loss. He was certain that the redhead would be thrilled at finally becoming aware that their common friend spoke so highly of their outings and that he looked forward to them every single weekend. Was the idea of Tony Stark acting as giddy as a little girl receiving a pony when the weekend came around – as the weekend signified the opportunity to spend the day with her – not as eye-opening and powerful as he thought it would be? Had Pepper truly moved on from the crush she had had on the inventor ever since they had met? Rhodey had believed it to still be there, even after all these years and her failed dates in college, but given her reaction, he could now see that there was something hidden in the shadows of her mind and soul.

"Why, Pepper?" he repeated, although this time, he did not fanfare his words anymore. "Why is it a shame?"

She gulped, put her trembling hands between her knees and then looked up towards the door she wanted to bolt out of. "Because… because if he does see them as dates, and he still sleeps around with all those girls as we know he does, then I know where I stand. I now know how little he values me."

"Oh," was James' only reply.

Granted, Rhodey had not seen any clear sign that Tony had restarted his habit of sleeping around with random girls as he used to do so often when he had attended MIT – and most especially so during the long year that Pepper had been out of reach, spy training in a secluded and secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility after she had completed her studies at Empire State. As far as Rhodey knew, Tony had kept his snake in the cage perhaps for almost two or three years (and to be honest with himself, he had thought that it had been because Tony and Pepper could have been sleeping together while camping) – but it was more likely for Pepper, since she was around Tony more often than he was, to find out exactly when and where the young genius let out some steam.

And, evidently, it was not with her.

For her part, Pepper was torn. She felt happy yet sad, elated yet insulted, hopeful yet devastated, and confused and angry as fuck. She wholeheartedly disliked this current sentiment – feeling as if she could not decide on one single emotion to cling to and act upon. She had felt like this a couple of days ago when Tony had declined granting her the favor of a lifetime, and she now felt the nauseating emotion engulf her once more, thanks to Tony again, even if just by proxy and unintentionally.

"Jeez, Pepper. I'm… I'm so sorry. I… I didn't know."

Pepper groaned and narrowed her eyes, realizing she had forgotten that there was a distinct emotion she despised more than not knowing what to feel: the sense of being pitied. The sense of anyone having the need to show her sympathy for her inability to experience the intimate connection humans were supposed to achieve and receive from their significant others. She had received it – pity – from her friends in college when she could not keep a boyfriend. She had received it from her father when he had asked if she was thinking of settling down soon. She had even received it from other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents when the holidays came around and other than visiting her father, she had nowhere to go and no one to see.

She had worked so hard all these years to be who she had always wanted to be. She had graduated top of her class in college and in the S.H.I.E.L.D. training academy. She was a very successful spy and a highly-ranked agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. She was assigned the toughest missions and paid the big bucks for it. She was feared by her enemies, admired by her peers and respected by her superiors. Nick Fury trusted her more than she had ever thought possible. Even Natasha Romanoff saw her as a worthy successor for her legacy.

But, at the end of the day, when it was time to come home and relax, she had all but an empty room to welcome her. Rhodey had Sara, her father had remarried, and Tony had his company and Iron Man. She had nothing. No one. Not even a Chia pet. And the one Tony had given her had died due to lack of care because she was hardly ever home. And when she was home, when that Sunday came around and she was not out on a mission, she was with Tony – the only person she truly had left in the world.

And he too had deserted her when she had needed him the most. He did not take her seriously… again.

"Hey, Pepper?" Rhodey poked her ribs, trying to cheer her up but really not knowing how to.

"Yeah?"

"May the force be with you."

The ginger slowly turned to face him to see his left hand up in the air. His ring and little fingers were held together, as were his middle, index and thumb, leaving a space in between the two sets of fingers that resembled a _V_. Pepper narrowed her eyes at him, insulted by the inaccuracy of his gesture and hurt by the memories that it brought to her: a time when she had been as confused as Rhodey currently was about how to use the hand gesture – a time before Tony had stepped in to enlighten her on the themes.

"You have it all wrong!" she yelled and stood up from the couch before making her way towards the exit. "It's: 'Live long and prosper," she opened the front door to her quarters. "AND THAT'S THE WRONG FRANCHISE!" she said of his misuse of the iconic phrase.

"Pepper –"

"ZIP IT, FERENGI!"

"Feren –"

"Let me slam the door!"

And his words were cut out by her doing exactly that slamming of the door. The Air Force Lieutenant Colonel waited in absolute silence and stillness for a few seconds for the redhead to return, but when she did not, he sighed in defeat, picked up the game controller and muttered to himself.

"I wonder how long it will take Pepper to realize she just stormed out of her own home."

The barely muffled _'Dammit!'_ he heard coming from outside was all the response he needed from her.

"There it is."

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Now review, darn it! ;)


	4. Chapter 3

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Guest: Lovely Chapter! ...and sad! How can I deal with not knowing what the heck Pepper asked?! Also, Tony is a jerk sometimes, isn't he? Excellent update! Write more, please! P.S Star Trek and Star Wars...and Full Metal Alchemist? I dunno, I suck at guessing at hide-and-seek games** – WOOT! WOOT! You got them all! And fret not, my Faithful Reader, we will soon know what the deal is :)

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Monday**

Garfield, the cat, hated Mondays even though he had no reason to hate them – he was a darned cat! What the hell did _he_ have to do on Mondays? Sleep even more? Students hated Mondays because that meant they had to go to school. Adults hated Mondays because they had to go to work – and most of them did so because they hated what they did for a living. Pepper Potts did not particularly care about the dreaded beginning of the workweek, mostly because she truly did not have a typical schedule or a typical job. To her, Mondays were Mondays and Fridays were Friday's, the sky was blue and water was wet.

Yet, despite all the reasons that existed to dislike the day of the Moon – most of which did not even apply to her – today was an exception to her own rule. Today, _she_ hated Mondays. Today, Monday was the _worst_ day of the week. _Today_ , Mondays brought her nothing but grief; or at least as much grief as receiving a couple of gifts from your best friend and confidant could bring.

 _What have I done?_

Her current back and forth pacing in her room was going to make a hole on the floor of the flying fortress she called home. She sincerely hoped they had splurged on insurance for the fucking thing.

The list of possible answers for the _what she had done_ inquiry was rather long. And if she were to narrow it down to only the top three, asking Tony for the favor would be on the number one spot. Skipping down the list a little, number three would be snapping at him when he had been trying to patch up her hand. Number two was staring at her in the face right now.

When the person in charge of deliveries on the Helicarrier had left her a message on her door this morning that she had to come in person to sign for some packages, she had not once thought the sender was the genius billionaire. Her father sometimes sent her items during her birthday or during other special occasions and that had seemed the most likely origin of the packages she had been summoned to collect. There did not seem to be any other reason to be getting a special delivery; off the top of her head, she was unaware she had missed the celebration of any important holidays.

But she had.

She had missed celebrating a major one, in fact.

And not by accident. That was probably the worst part.

 _I didn't think he would remember_ , she sighed, and realizing she had forgotten herself, her fingers traced the soft petals of one of the gifts she had received.

The floral arrangement was nothing but beautiful; a perfect blend of her favorite flowers: lavender, carnations and lilies, among other flowers that complemented the entire luxurious ensemble. There were at least six different kinds of flowers in different tones, all in variations of white, silver and purple – just as her Rescue suit had turned out to be when Tony had made it for her. Even the porcelain vase was purple, and it appeared to be expensive as hell.

Tony Stark, being Tony Stark, had not stopped his token of appreciation at the flowers. A box containing a brand new Chia pet had also been included, as well as a greeting card and a quick handwritten note he had attached to the top of the vase that he had undoubtedly added at the last second when he had realized she was not coming to see him. He had not even questioned her absence of yesterday – she knew he was aware of what she did for a living and what this implied as to the availability of her personal time. It was not uncommon for her to sometimes not make it to their Sunday ritual, simply because an unexpected mission or project would come up, and she was not allowed to share the details with him.

He, most of the time, did not even ask about such tasks or their outcome once she returned from completing her missions. As long as she showed up the next Sunday, alive and well, he kept his worries about her safety to himself. He knew that Pepper was a busy woman and that her job was very important to her; just as the wellbeing of his company was to him. On the same token, he made no assumptions that she would drop everything she was doing to spend the day with him. He knew, more than she was aware, that spending his Sundays with her was a privilege that could be taken away for any reason, at any time.

As such, and when she had not shown up to have breakfast with him in the place he always visited on Sunday mornings, he had arranged for the gifts he had gotten for her well in advance (as evidenced by the receipts and browsing history she had secretly pulled from his records about an hour ago) to be delivered to the Helicarrier instead. Unbeknownst to her, he had planned to give them to her when they went to pick up their suits and camping gear. The opportunity, however, had not presented itself, much to his disappointment.

So now, as she waited for the courage to develop within her to read the inner contents of the greeting card, she mumbled to herself the two sentences he had written on the quick, last-minute note.

"Bummer you couldn't make it. Hope to see you next week!"

 _That damn unassuming jerk!_ She pouted. _Why is it so hard to hate him?_

Truth was, she did not really _want_ to hate him, but acting as if nothing had happened was not going as planned and she had no idea how to turn back time. She saw no other possible way to vanish the awkwardness she felt just thinking about seeing him. In fact, she did not even want to _think_ about facing him, alone, again.

"Oh, if only the Vulcans were real!"

 _Dammit!_

She knew she could not spend the rest of her life avoiding him without him confronting her about it sooner rather than later. Perhaps her best bet at this point would be to just beg Fury for a long, long, LONG mission. One that sent her to the middle of the Amazonian forest or the Savage Land. One that guaranteed she would not be back for months, perhaps years, so that by the time she returned, Tony would have surely forgotten what had happened three days ago.

Then again, this _was_ Tony Stark, and as forgetful as he sometimes tended to be about social conventions or non-technical issues, she knew that not even _he_ would forget what she had asked.

 _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

Then again, again, she had asked for him to forget what she had asked, just seconds after she had asked it, right? Therefore, the possibility existed that if she met up with him and she did not mention the incident at the temple, that he would not be the one to bring it up. And, if he did, she could always resort to throwing up on his shoes – that had seemed to stop him in his tracks at Rhodey's party.

It was almost a flawless plan.

Except that the idea of throwing up on his shoes made her cringe.

"Screw this!" she stood up, snatched the still sealed envelope of the greeting card from the vase and began angrily tearing it open. "I'm a grown-ass woman. He's a grown-ass man. We can move past this," she nodded with the determination that only came from being tired of going around in circles trying to solve an impossible problem. "Plenty of people do. I'm not the first person to ask for an awkwardly personal favor from a friend, and I won't be the last! Now, what the hell does this card even say?"

The cover of the greeting card was enough to floor her. He had, without a doubt, had this custom made just for her. The front image of the card was split in half, on the left side showing a _before_ picture of her, and on the right side showing an _after_ picture of her as well. The before picture had been taken by him, seconds before she boarded the plane that took her to the year-long spy training academy for S.H.I.E.L.D., and the after picture was a recent picture of her, also taken by him, as she received an award for a very important mission she had completed a month ago.

The irony of seeing on the card the moment that had been the last push she had needed to move forward with her important decision that had eventually led her to ask him for help, was something she had not expected to see and was not sure if she could handle right now.

And she had not even opened the card yet!

"Oh, boy," she mumbled as she shut her eyes before she opened the card with both hands. She then partly opened her left eye, slowly opened her right one, and after a couple of blinks, she read aloud the handwritten message inside the card.

"Time flies! S.H.I.E.L.D. is lucky to have Viper as an agent. Iron Man is lucky to have Rescue on his team, and I'm lucky to have Pepper as my friend. Happy spy anniversary, Pep!"

Her forehead was hit by the card over and over again.

 _Your friend?_ She though bitterly. _A friend would have said: yes!_

Then again, again-again, was she being too harsh on him? Was she being too presumptuous of his availability? What if he was not actually free? What if he had not been free for a while and he had not told her about it? It would most definitely not be unheard of – he owed her no explanations of his personal life whatsoever. Yet, at the end of the day, she could not get rid of the feeling of betrayal that just festered inside her. The more she thought about it, the more it ate her alive. The more it ate her alive, the less capable she felt of facing him once more.

 _Lost a friendship for a lifetime loan_.

"No," she quickly corrected herself as she recalled a phrase Black Widow had used on her a lot during her spy training: "One can't lose what was never owned."

And she did not _own_ Tony. And he did not owe _her_ anything.

But, oh, how she wished he did!

Or perhaps, a new way of seeing the situation at hand was that this just _had_ to happen. That this _had_ to take place for her to truly see what she had – and what she did not have. And what she did not have was his unconditional support. His respect. His trust.

No. This was not an issue of the magnitude of the favor not granted. It was a matter of lack of trust. He had never taken her seriously. At least not the first time she said something to him or she asked for things, or the second time, for that matter; sometimes not even on the third try. And even though he did eventually come to his senses and followed through with her requests, she just could not risk it anymore. Not this, at least. This was not something she could just live with. This was something that he could dangle before her and then take away when he felt it was for the best. Or when he felt she was not worth taking serious again.

And he probably could, if he really wanted to.

And there was nothing she could ever do to stop him.

And her heart could not deal with that amount of pain.

Was she doomed to just not go through with her carefully constructed plans? Was this as far as she was ever going to go?

Was she already _all_ she was going to be: Viper, a S.H.I.E.L.D. spy?

She cursed aloud when a knock on her door surprised her. If Black Widow were around, she would have been rather disappointed in her for being so caught up in her own thoughts to forget to mind her surroundings. It was Spy Training 101, and yet she had just allowed herself to be vulnerable like that, even if no real danger was around.

All because of a card.

"I can't deal with this right now," Pepper quickly dried the tears she had not realized had come to her. "I can't think about it now."

With shaking hands, she threw the card behind the nightstand, leaving it to be forgotten between the piece of furniture and the wall. And had she removed her right thumb from the corner of the card before she had thrown it away; had she had her eyes fully opened when she had first opened the card, she would have seen the uncharacteristic moniker style that the inventor had used to sign the card: _Love, Tony Stark._


	5. Chapter 4

**Guest Review Responses**

 **apps: Amazingly written... but i am dying to see the last chapter of this story,to learn what pepper really asked for!.,.,.poor pepper...why tony has to do this to her...please update fast** – THE ENTIRE STORY IS WRITTEN, PEEPS! Don't feel sorry for Pepper yet. The worst hasn't come to her! Yes, I know the story is labeled Romance and Humor, but what would a story from me be without a sprinkle of angst? ;)

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Tuesday**

Having been unsuccessful with Pepper as well, James Rhodes had decided to take a different approach to finding out what was happening between the two friends. It was painfully obvious to him that something was troubling them both, and in all the years he had known the two of them, Rhodey had never ever seen them not speak to each other for more than three days – sans that incident with Whitney and Gene back in high school, but they had not known any better back then.

Whether the latest and greatest dispute was a mutual misunderstanding or just simple individual issues that were distancing the redhead and the blue-eyed genius, it did not matter. What mattered to Rhodey was that, the longer he allowed this ridiculousness to take place, the more he would be caught in the middle of the inevitable fight he knew would come – as selfish as that statement sounded of him, it was the absolute truth. If it was a mutual issue, one of them would soon burst and lash out at the other for whatever wrong had been done or said. If it was individual, one would soon point out that the other had not gotten their head out of their ass long enough to notice something was wrong. It was always the same with those two – how they were still close friends, or _just_ close friends, Rhodey could not begin to understand.

 _I should just throw them in a closet, lock it and lose the fucking key!_

And that would probably work, too, if Tony was not a genius and Pepper a freaking spy. They would be out of that closet in less than half a second after Rhodey had the time to lock it. Hell! Tony would probably do all the work; a well-placed Extremis-packed punch would be all that would be needed to break open a wooden door.

 _Metal door_ , Rhodey nodded to himself as he approached the front door to Tony's condo. _Yup, definitely a metal door._

Rhodey's fist rose in the air, but before he had a chance to knock on the door, said contraption opened from the inside. Instinctively, Rhodey took a step back, squared his shoulders and took a defensive stance, as if whatever or whoever was about to come out from Tony's home was going to attack him. Yet, the moment he realized it was just a tall, green-eyed blonde with mile-long legs, Rhodey slumped his shoulders and frowned.

It appeared that he had been wrong about Tony no longer sleeping around – it was just seven in the morning, for crying out loud! It was obvious to him that this woman had spent the night and, for all Rhodey knew, she was also probably the reason why Pepper was so upset.

"Thanks for stopping by," Rhodey heard Tony say before his form appeared behind the blonde, the inventor still unaware that he was being scrutinized by his childhood friend. "Let me know how it turns out."

"I'll give you a call when it's confirmed," the woman said with a toothy grin that exuded irritating overconfidence.

"I'll be waiting," he said with a smile that only those who knew Tony would recognize as fake. "See you later, Cassandra."

"See you soon, Tony," Cassandra winked at the young billionaire before she turned on her heels and walked down the hall, swaying her hips more than was natural. It was then that Tony finally noticed Rhodey standing on the other side of the hall, and it was then that Rhodey was shocked to see that the curvy blonde did not keep Tony's attention for long.

"Already hit that, I guess?" Rhodey asked once he knew the woman was out of hearing range.

"Yup, years ago."

"Years ago?" Rhodey's tone denoted how incredulous of Tony's answer he was. "Don't you mean last night?"

Tony rolled his eyes and went back inside his home, leaving the door wide open in case his friend still felt like visiting him. "Nope. Years ago."

"And she's just hung around your home ever since? What was she doing here so early?" Rhodey closed the door behind him.

"She couldn't wait to tell me she gave birth to my kid," Tony replied with a nonchalant shrug as he got comfortable on his recliner, sipped from his coffee and grabbed his phone to bring up a very important list from which he had been striking out names.

"The fuck you pardon?" Rhodey's eyes bugged open and he then shook his head. "I mean: I beg the fuck? I mean… WHAT?!"

"Yeah," Tony's thumb lazily slid up the screen of his phone. "That was Cassandra Keith. Slept with her the year I finished my doctoral dissertation."

"So… four… _five_ years ago?"

"Yup," the scientist took another sip of his coffee.

"And she-she got pregnant?"

"Yup."

"And she's here to… what? Have you take responsibility?"

"That'd be right."

"That… that-that be RIGHT?" Rhodey shook his head from side to side. "Are you HEARING yourself speak?"

"Are you hearing yourself stutter?"

"Why aren't _you_ stuttering?"

Tony scoffed. "Because it's not my kid."

"Huh?" Rhodey walked over to the couch to Tony's left and sat there.

"Not. My. Kid," Tony repeated, slowly this time, as if it was the words that were misunderstood and not the message itself.

"Again: huh? How do you know?"

"I didn't just go at it blind, Rhodey! Didn't Roberta talk to you about how to stay safe?" he joked.

"She didn't have to. I'm not a fucking gigolo."

"Neither am I! I pay my own damned bills, thank you very much."

"You're right," Rhodey nodded. "That makes you a man whore, instead."

"Thank you for making sure you insult me properly."

"No problem. What are friends for? So, how sure are you that this is not your kid?"

"I kept tabs on all the girls I was with. I analyzed and followed their lives for a year after it to make sure no one got pregnant by me. I never slept with the same girl twice, anyway."

"Analyzed? Followed?" Rhodey cleared his throat. "Don't you mean: STALKED?"

Tony pensively tapped his chin with his right index finger. "Depends on the jury. I'd just call it: research effort, or: market conditions analysis."

Rhodey slapped his hands onto his face and groaned.

"Leave it to you, the smartest guy on the planet, to be technical about shit and still get definitions wrong! No wonder Pepper didn't know you thought about your Sundays get-togethers as dates."

"W-w-what?" Tony almost dropped his phone. " _D-didn't_ know?"

Rhodey chuckled. " _There's_ the stuttering!"

"Dude, no! Seriously? You… you _told_ her?"

"Yup!" Rhodey smiled proudly. "She denied they were dates, so I told her that you called them that."

"NO! FUUUCK!" Tony's palms slammed against the armrests of the recliner. "Dude! Ugh! No wonder she's been avoiding me!"

"Oh, no. Mmhhh, no," Rhodey shook his head vehemently. "She's been avoiding you BEFORE I told her. That's not on me."

"When did this happen?"

"Sunday."

"WHAT?" Tony's voice rose. "She was in the city on Sunday?"

Rhodey smirked. "Yup."

"But-but… was she, like, on a mission?"

"Nope. She was playing _Killer Kombat_ with me."

"Oh," Tony shrugged in disenchantment. "Well, I guess… yeah… I mean…" he shook his head. "Well, it doesn't matter, anyway. The point is that you shouldn't have told her that, Rhodey! She's gonna get the wrong idea!"

"What wrong idea? You're the one that calls them: dates!"

"YES! But, not to her face and _not_ like you're thinking!"

"Then why do you call them that?"

"Because…" Tony sighed. "Because there's no computer talk and, technically, no armory. It's just her and me."

Rhodey's scrunched face denoted how confused he was. "That doesn't make it a date!"

Tony smiled softly, recalling how this had been his own response, years ago, when Pepper had caught him by surprised with the term before Andros Stark had shown up.

"I know," Tony chuckled. "It's just a word, Rhodey. Relax."

"You're fucking weird."

"Weird gets the ladies."

"Ugh! Spare me."

Tony laughed aloud. "Well, even though you fucked up –"

"HEY!"

"You at least gave me a reason to try to talk to her again. I'll just text her how stupid you are and I'll fix this shit."

"The fuck, man?" Rhodey punched his friend on the shoulder. "You _dare_ use me to try to fix whatever _you_ screwed up?"

"Thanks for volunteering, Rhodey!" Tony said, paying his friend's anger no heed as he began typing the perfect text message for the redhead – one that he knew would at least get a conversation started with her. Before he was to press SEND, however, a loud knock on the door stopped him and forced both he and Rhodey to stare at each other with confused looks on their faces.

"I'm not waiting for anyone," Tony said as he got up.

"Then don't open it."

"But it could be Pepper!" Tony replied, too excited at the prospect that she had finally decided to visit him, that he forwent using the peephole to veto the guest outside before he opened the door.

Later on, he would wish he had.

"MR. STARK, _The Daily Bugle_ : A STATEMENT, PLEASE!"

"Mr. Stark! _OK! Magazine_ : What will you name the triplets?"

"Tony, _People Magazine_ : is it true you paid Cassandra Keith to have an abortion?"

" _US Weekly_ : are you thinking of tying the knot? When will the wedding take place?"

" _Star Magazine_ : Are you going to use a pre-nup? What about your fortune?"

The myriad of microphones, cameras, lights and questions almost blended together, forcing Tony to squint and look away from the crowd. When the inventor finally came to his senses, however, the reporters became dead silent to document his every action.

"ALRIGHT, STOP! How the hell did you guys find out where I live? This is private property and you're all trespassing. You have to leave!"

"But, Mr. Stark – Tony, our readers want to know: do you prefer doggy-style or the missionary position?"

"WHAT?"

"Do you currently have a girlfriend?"

"That's none of your business! Now leave!"

"But, Mr. Stark, Ms. Keith is carrying your triplets. Don't you have a statement to make?"

"I have no statement to make! Now go before I call the cops!"

"The hell?" Rhodey's face poked from behind his friend. "What is going on?"

The reporters responded to the turn of events by aiming their equipment at Rhodey, and the questions quickly ensued.

"Are you Mr. Stark's gay partner?"

"Are you aware that he's fathering children from five different women?"

"Are you going to stand by your man?"

"Sir, what is your name?"

"Are you OK burning in hell for your homosexual ways?"

"Yeah, I'm out," Rhodey mumbled, patted Tony on the back and then quickly made his way towards the guest room.

With the military man gone, the reporters' efforts returned to the blue-eyed inventor.

"Sir! Sir! Are you moving to a larger home to house your growing family?"

"What size will the engagement ring be?"

"Will you build your children tiny armored suits?"

"Oh, Jesus," Tony shook his head, rubbed his closed eyes with his fingers and before he was able to push the pesky second-rate reporters away to shut his door, he heard a female voice screaming his name.

"TONY!"

The mass of reporters parted down the middle to allow the newcomer to rush to the genius, surrounded his shoulders with her arms, and then planted a quick peck on his lips that the cameras refused to miss.

"I'm so sorry for this," she cooed. "I just couldn't wait to tell the world how madly in love we are!"

"Cassandra?" Tony pushed the woman away. "You told them where to find me? What the f –"

Tony's words were abruptly cut off by the sight before him; by the single form standing just a few feet behind the pack of rabid wolves by his front door. For the first time, and despite the fact that her presence had been propelled aside by the mob of reporters running down the hall before she had reached her destination, Tony noticed the upset pair of glistening hazel eyes staring back at him.

"Pepper…"

The uttering of her name coming from the genius in such a soft and meaningful tone made the reporters look back towards the plain-looking girl they had ignored earlier. The cameras continued their rolling and clicking, silently capturing the moment when time stood still for the redhead and the billionaire. There was no verbal explanation needed for the bystanders, Cassandra included, as their locked eyes told the entire story of their significant bond. Tony took a deep breath to call out for her once more, but before Tony had the opportunity to drag the ginger inside his condo, the reporters' voices dragged _him_ back to reality instead.

"Is that your new conquest?"

"Is she the other woman?"

"Is she pregnant, too?"

"Is Pepper really her name?"

"She doesn't fit the profile of your dating record, Mr. Stark. Were you drunk when you slept with this _Pepper_ woman?"

His raging blue eyes were the last thing that particular reporter saw before Tony's fist connected with his face. Her disappointed watery hazel ones were the last thing Tony saw of his redhead before she left.


	6. Chapter 5

**Guest Review Responses**

 **apps: I am glad that you updated soon...thanks for listening to my plea... anyways you are right i should not be sorry for pepper but for tony because i am really going to kill him for all this mess and hurting pepper! OMG... Whyyyy you have to do this...i need an answer And not all of your stories are angsty because some are really really cutie!. ...update asap you have no idea that i keep on surfing here every now and then with high desperation... you had already written entire story then please post them all...can't wait! –** Here's another update! YAY! And on this chappie, you will feel sorry for Pepper. You'll get more of a background of what happened to her before and WHY this is affecting her so much. But, you will also get to feel bad for Tony because his "innocent" actions of the past are coming back to bite him in the ass when he least expected them. Thanks for reviewing!

 **A/N:** This is really boosting my energy, my Faithful Readers! I really need all the energy I can get! Thank you for your follows/favorites and REVIEWS! I had a quiz last night and went to sleep at 2 AM. And today I have a major test (same class, stupid professor scheduled two test in one week), so I'll be up late again. PLUS, today's my 5-year wedding anniversary! But, can't celebrate shit because I have school! Boo! :(

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Wednesday**

She hugged her friend Sara with almost too much force, but neither she nor Sara complained about the lack of oxygen or the crushing of bones. Adieus had never been easy on the ginger; most especially when they happened like this: forced, impromptu and long-lived. The short, blue-eyed blonde with a thick Eastern European accent had been easy to befriend and, before she had come around, Pepper Potts had never been one to have close friends that were girls. In fact, she had not known the true meaning of friendship until she had met Tony Stark and James Rhodes.

The sniffles were not hidden once the two women pulled away. Their small smiles were filled with sadness. Yet, as agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., they knew they could not afford looking weak for long.

"Well," Sara shrugged. "I need to go report to General Fury."

Pepper nodded. "What time are you going to see him?"

"1100 hours."

Pepper stared at her watch – the deadline was a mere hour away. "Have you told Rhodey?"

"No."

"I… I don't blame you. Gonna need help with that?"

"Maybe, if at least to just hold him back," Sara shrugged again when her attempt at humor failed. "I just… I don't want to think about it right now."

"I understand," Pepper replied.

"Well, goodbye, Viper," Sara's weak smiled broadened.

"Goodbye, Roadrunner."

After another quick hug, Sara finally walked away from Pepper's door and left the ginger to continue stewing in her thoughts.

She dropped her body on her couch, the news quietly playing in the background, and her eyes stared at the beautiful vase that lit up her entire quarters, inciting in her to relive the moment she was trying to so hard to forget.

 _"And well… I… I was wondering if, you know, you would consider –"_

 _"No."_

 _"Oh."_

She closed her eyes when she felt the sting on them, hoping something else replaced the painful memories that made her heart get caught in her throat.

 _"Ugh! I_ _ **so**_ _need to stop watching Star Trek with Tony!"_

 _"Is that what you guys do on dates?"_

 _"No! And they're_ _ **not**_ _dates!"_

 _"Are you sure?"_

 _"YES!"_

 _"Positive?"_

 _"Absolutely!"_

 _"Well, that's funny."_

 _"What's funny,_ _ **Rhodes**_ _?"_

 _"That you don't see your Sunday rituals as dates."_

 _"And why is that funny?"_

 _"Because Tony thinks they are."_

The card that had accompanied the gift was nowhere in sight, yet she did not need to fetch it from the back of the nightstand to remember the contents of it: _Time flies! S.H.I.E.L.D. is lucky to have Viper as an agent. Iron Man is lucky to have Rescue on his team, and I'm lucky to have Pepper as my friend. Happy spy anniversary, Pep!_

Her phone chiming to announce a text message had been received made her open her eyes. She extended her arm towards the coffee table and grabbed the device, not even bothering to unlock the phone. The string of seemingly unread texts she had received from Tony was rather long, yet she was forcing herself to not actually open them up as she knew this would notify Tony that his message had been read. As such, and while thanking the technology gods for every second of it, she had been relying on the preview option of her phone to read at least the first few characters of each message she had received from him.

 _"Let's talk,"_ the latest message said and, while tempting, she simply shook her head and put the phone back on the coffee table after setting it on silent.

 _Let's talk_ , she repeated in her mind. _About what?_

She was still in partial shock from the events that had taken place the day before. She had gone to his home, with every intention of having a nice, long talk with him, but he had been more than just a little bit preoccupied at the time. Her worst fears had been realized, before her very eyes, and she knew it would take a while to get over what she had seen… and what she had heard.

 _"US Weekly: are you thinking of tying the knot? When will the wedding take place?"_

She closed her eyes again, tighter this time around. She had in the past witnessed first-hand, and rather sadly at that, the moment Tony's life had become public domain. It had not happened when he had turned 18, or when the Makluan had tried invading the world and he had been discovered to be Iron Man. It did not happen during high school graduation, either, or when he first started college. No. The event had been rather close to home, in fact, and it had left her with a bitter taste in her mouth. That one-time incident had been the reason why she rarely visited Tony at his home or he came to see her on the Helicarrier – they never knew when the media was stalking him. This one time was the reason why they varied their Sunday meetups and activities as much as possible, at least location-wise, and were rarely seen together in broadly public or easily publicly accessible places.

That one time had almost been the end of her career as an agent even before it had started.

 _"Miss," a bald, old man tapped Pepper on the shoulder. "I can't help but notice that you're sitting next to Tony Stark. Did you know that?"_

 _"Uhm," Pepper was not sure how to respond. Tony was yet to return from getting their hotdogs and drinks to watch the baseball game of the year. It had taken her months to convince him to go with her to watch the Yankees play, and if someone started bugging him about being who he was, she was sure they would leave before the game began._

 _"You do, don't you?" the man smiled. "Are you sleeping with him?"_

 _"Excuse me?"_

 _"Oooh, you ARE!" the man continued making up answers to his own questions. "What are you, his girlfriend or just the day's companion?"_

 _"What? I don't think you –"_

 _"Nevermind, I'll just take your picture," the man said at the same time he used his big digital camera and almost blinded the redhead with its bright flash. "I know a friend in the FBI that can find your information with your picture for $20."_

 _"What?" Pepper stood up, completely forgetting where she was. "Give me that! You can't take my picture!"_

 _"Yes, I can!" the man defended his actions, pulled away his camera from Pepper's reach and took out a small portable audio recorder. "It's a public place and you're dating a celebrity. It comes with the territory, sweetheart."_

 _"I'm not dating him! Give me that camera!"_

 _"Manly-looking and disproportionate female in her mid-twenties, denies being in a serious relationship with superhero billionaire Tony Stark," the man said into his voice recorder. "She is presumed to be a simple one-night stand."_

 _"WHAT? I'm 19! AND GIVE ME THAT!"_

 _"NO! THIS IS AMERICA!" the man stood up and lifted his camera above his head, knowing well that it would place it beyond Pepper's reach and that it would catch the attention of the other patrons. "IT'S THE LAND OF THE FREE! And I'm with the free press! FREE!"_

 _"But that's my picture! Give it back!"_

 _"The female appears to be angry that her charade has been found," the reporter said into his recorder. "Either that or her sexual encounters with Tony Stark have been less-than-satisfying."_

 _"For the LAST time," the redhead said as she jumped as high as she could to try to snatch the camera, "I'm not sleeping with Tony Stark!"_

 _"Oh, that's perfect, honey, thank you!" the reporter put away his recorder. "That 'not' is gonna be so easy to edit out! I have the story of the year!"_

 _"ARGH!"_

Her battle cry had been the only warning Pepper had given the man before she had tackled him to the ground. By the time Tony had returned to their seats, food in hand, Pepper had been arrested for assault and the beaten man was threatening to blow the incident way out of proportion. Tony knew he would do it, too – the media had been getting on his case as of late, trying to get some dirt on the young superhero – and while he honestly did not give a rat's ass about what the media said about him, he did care about Pepper's honor and wellbeing.

So he had paid the man $20 million for his camera, his recorder, his silence and for dropping the charges on the redhead. On the spot.

Pepper had not stayed put in executing her own version of justice, and once she had found out whom the man's FBI friend was, she had had her father come down hard on him. Both men ended up being sent to a federal prison for a myriad of charges, and Tony had gotten his money back.

When the issue had been brought up three years later, during her initial interview for becoming a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, she had swallowed down the need to throw up. Thankfully for her, the story had been kept under wraps and no one knew who she was. Moreover, since her record was technically still clean of any criminal charges, she had been allowed to continue with the screening process. Fast-forwarding eight years, here she was.

The events of that day at the baseball park, however, had been a wake-up call for both.

Pepper had gotten herself as busy as possible and claimed to have no time to meet up with her blue-eyed friend. She had even started dating men she had met at her college, had at least one semi-serious relationship with one of them, but in the end she always ended the commitment herself. Tony and she had remained close friends throughout it all despite the lack of physically meeting up to hang out because they had done a damn good job nurturing their friendship via e-mail, text, phone calls and video chats. Then, when Pepper had been ready to leave for spy training after graduating college, Tony had surprised her by being at the Helicarrier in person.

" _Take a picture, it'll last longer," Hawkeye said as he walked past them, and Tony did just that before Pepper could complain about it._

" _I can't believe you're leaving, Pep," he whispered into her ear as he tightly hugged her. "I'm gonna miss you like hell!"_

" _It's only a year, Tony," she replied._

" _I know," his voice dropped an octave. "Life's gonna fucking suck without you."_

 _Pepper chuckled at his choice of words, pulled away from him and tried to keep the tears from coming out. "Dude, really? I'm gonna get fired on my first day for crying on the job."_

" _Fuck no!" Tony joked back and softly dried a tear on her cheek with his thumb; an action he achieved in such a quick and casual manner that she almost did not realize it had taken place. "They're gonna beg you to not leave them to work for HYDRA or some shit like that."_

 _Pepper smiled again, nodded at his joke and then quickly looked over her shoulder to see the other agents had begun to board the Quinjet. "I have to go," she began as she started turning to face him again. "I have to –"_

 _His lips crushing hers ended the rest of her response._

 _The kiss was quick but powerful, and his hands on her jaw held her face in place until he pulled back._

" _For luck," he whispered to her, his eyes staring at the ground between their feet before he pulled her into one last hug. "Be careful, Pep. I don't want to lose one of the best friends I've ever had."_

 _Pepper shut her eyes, bit down her tongue and then pulled back._

" _See you later, Stark," she called as she began walking in reverse and away from him._

" _See you later, Potts," he replied, never once breaking eye contact with her until she reached the Quinjet and turned around._

She opened her eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling. She exhaled deeply, rubbed her face with her hands and then turned to her left side. The room was becoming cold, but she was too lazy to get up and adjust the thermostat, so she just dragged a shawl over her legs. She extended her hand once more towards her phone to see that another message had come in and, just as before, she only read the preview screen.

" _Sunday, perhaps?"_

Pepper pushed herself off the couch to a sitting position, intending to finally reply to him, before a flicker of the television made her look up. She grimaced when she saw the familiar blonde giving a statement to the news, and she swallowed hard when the banner below the woman's image scrolled past, relaying to the redhead what she could barely make out from the lowered sound.

" _Tony Stark is a father,"_ the banner's capitalized words started the breaking news. _"To be wed to Cassandra Keith on Sunday."_


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N:** OMG! Is this another update? Just after a few hours of posting the last one? YES IT IS! Only one more chapter after this one and the Epilogue and we wrap it up!

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Thursday**

This was turning out to be the longest week of his entire life, second only to the week before Pepper had finally returned from the training academy after spending an entire year disconnected from the rest of the world. Ironically enough, one of the main reasons why he felt that time was crawling by was the same for both occasions: he had not been able to freely see and speak with his redheaded friend.

 _I can't let this go on_ , he thought with finality. _I can't just leave things unsaid._

When the sound of her voicemail hit him again, without even one ring this time around, he shut his Stark pod, shoved it inside his pants pocket, grabbed his motorcycle keys and all but ran towards the front door. He could no longer sit and wait for Pepper to call back, answer the multiple texts and emails he had sent her, or for Sunday to come around. He had to clear things up with her. Now.

He quickly patted down all of his pockets to make sure that everything he wanted to take with him to see the ginger was on his person, but as soon as he opened the door to leave, he recoiled when he saw he had yet another guest at his doorstep.

"You're an ass!"

"I'm sure you're right," Tony replied without missing a beat and a raised eyebrow despite the feeling of surprise that came over him at seeing his friend standing before him. For a brief second, the genius considered the possibility that Rhodey was now just hanging out in the condominium's corridor – probably living there now, for all he knew – with the single intention of waiting for Tony to leave the premises so that he could stop him in his tracks for whatever reason tickled his fancy. "But can't it wait? I have to go look for Pepper."

"Oh, really?" Rhodey slammed a sealed manila envelope onto Tony's chest, used it to push the inventor out of the entranceway, and then walked inside the genius' home.

"What's this?" Tony eyed the envelope in his grasp with a mix of curiosity and mistrust. After the last few months he had had, where he had been shoved documents and tasks he had no interest in completing but that he still had to do, he was starting to develop a tic of not wanting to be handed things, if for no other reason than being handed things implied being given unwanted work.

"Another paternity lawsuit against you that got dropped because, surprisingly, you're not the father. Cassandra's, actually. Funny what doctors will lie about to cover having an affair."

Tony gave the envelope another brief glance before he haphazardly threw it in the nearest trashcan, not at all intrigued by the contents he now knew it enclosed.

" _Not_ surprisingly, actually," Tony begrudgingly closed the front door, sensing Rhodey's intention here was more than just as a messenger to his mother's client. "I know what I'm doing, Rhodey. Or what I did. Whatever. I'm not one to leave trails of kids behind, especially not with women that aren't worth the trouble."

"Oh, _really_?" Rhodey crossed his arms over his chest in a way that told Tony he was up for a lecture, prompting the inventor to briefly close his eyes, exhale deeply and long, and then tilt his head to the side to await his friend's charge, trial, prosecution and sentence.

"Yes. _Really_. Now, if that's all you came to here to do," he pointed to the envelope in the trash with his left hand before he crossed his arms over his chest as well, "I have to go look for Pepper. Right now."

"Do you now?" Rhodey walked closer to the inventor when he noticed that Tony was getting ready to bolt.

"Yes!" Tony nodded sharply and became irate when he realized why Rhodey had shifted positions in the living room. He was now blocking his way out of his home. "She's not answering her phone and I really need to talk to her."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, Rhodey! Seriously! Move! I don't have time for this. I haven't been able to get a hold of her since she ran off on me on Tuesday, and there's something really important I have to tell her!"

"You mean you're not done telling her she's not good enough to carry a baby from you?"

"WHAT?" Tony flinched. "What the… Why? Uh, how-how do you know about that?"

"She told me, genius! That's how!" Rhodey threw his arms in the air in frustration and walked towards the middle of the living room. "So, to restate my opening statement: you're an ass! What is _wrong_ with you? You fucked all those _unworthy_ bitches, as you call them, but you don't do Pepper, your FRIEND, a fucking favor?!"

Tony swallowed hard. "Not that it's any of your business, but it's not like that at all."

"Yeah, uh-hum! Sure, it ain't! What's stopping you? That you won't get to have fun making the baby?"

"Of course not!"

"So, what's the problem then? You couldn't even let her down easy? She's not smart enough for you? You think she's too stupid to understand if you had explained to her why you said _no_?"

"No! She's freaking smart!"

"So, she's not funny enough for you?"

"She's hilarious!"

"You don't like hanging around with her?"

"I can't wait to see her! Sundays are my favorite days!"

"Oh, yeah? Then, what? She's not pretty enough for you? Is that what it is?"

"NO! She's gorgeous!"

"Then what, Tony? What the hell do you want from her?"

"I just…" Tony exhaled sharply and gulped once more. "I just need to see her right now. I-I have to talk to her."

"She's not home," Rhodey said to his friend's back, his tone a touch lower than it had been just seconds ago, inciting Tony to let go of the doorknob and look over his shoulder to watch Rhodey from the corner of his right eye. "You won't find her."

"Why not?" Tony asked with a slight tremble in his voice.

"Sara got summoned for a _One-Way_."

Rhodey's response caused Tony to turn around in place to face his crestfallen friend, knowing damn well what a mission labeled as a _One-Way_ meant for the people assigned to it. _One-Way_ was the informal term that agents used for missions with the highest level of danger, seeing as 99.99% of anyone ever sent to these missions never came back. And if they did, they did so in pieces, wrapped in dirty plastic bags and shipped to their family's homes, courtesy of the terrorists they had been sent to stop.

To their knowledge, only one person had ever returned alive from a _One-Way_ – but he had been admitted to a psychiatric ward and had shortly after taken his own life while there.

These tasks were so extreme, that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had to follow countless protocols to even get cleared to be sent off. Some of the requirements included making sure they had a valid and legal will on file with an attorney, friend or family member; attesting to an oath stating they would make instant use of the provided cyanide pills in the case of imminent capture; signing a release of liability form to acknowledge and accept the fact that, if found or captured by the enemy, there would not be any rescue or negotiation efforts on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s or any other entity's part; and that, to the best of the assigned agent's abilities, their personal affairs were in order before they departed. _One-Way_ missions were brutal, left the agent incommunicado and to rely upon their own devices. In other words: they were a sure, one-way ticket to the netherworld.

"Rhodey," Tony shook his head and stared at the floor, his bright mind failing to form with ease the appropriate words he knew did not exist to comfort his friend. "I… I'm sorry, man. You… you and Sara were supposed to get married next month. I… I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry."

"Thanks, man," Rhodey replied, his eyes also lost in his own grave musings. "You should be sorry, too," he added as he looked up to stare at his blue-eyed friend. "Because… because I _am_ getting married next month."

Tony's head snapped up and his eyes locked with Rhodey's glistening ones. "You-you are? The mission got cancelled? Postponed?"

"No," Rhodey swallowed hard.

Tony frowned. "Then how –"

The moment the two words were cut off by himself, was the exact same moment that Tony provided his own unspoken response. The look on his face slowly changed, showing frame-by-frame the process taking place in his brain. His eyes slowly lowered to the ground. His partly opened mouth shut. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down. He felt himself grow shorter as his shoulders slumped and his head hung. He opened his mouth a couple of times, resembling a fish out of water, but only one word was able to make it out after a few failed croaks had escaped him.

"Pepper –"

"Took the mission," Rhodey finished for him, confirming what he knew Tony had already inferred himself. "She volunteered for Sara."

Tony's trembling left hand pushed forward, searching for the first firm object he could find near him. When his left palm rested against the leather of the back of his recliner chair, his right hand followed, and before he knew it, Tony Stark was being held up not by the strength of his legs, but by the piece of furniture taking the brunt of his weight.

"When…"

"Last night," Rhodey replied. "My mom called me home. Said it was urgent. Pepper was there. She wanted me as the will holder. She didn't want her dad to have to deal with it… if it came to it."

Tony's fingers dug into the fabric of the chair; his eyes closed tightly, and the feeling of disbelief was soon replaced by anger.

"No!" he shouted. "She can't… it's _not_ possible. She can't just volunteer for someone! I mean… yes, it's for Sara but… Pepper just got back from a major mission. She got an award for it! S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol states she can't be sent to another major mission for three months after returning from another major one!"

"Tony –"

"NO!" the inventor's body suddenly recovered its abilities and power. "This can't be it! I… I have to talk to her, dammit! Where is she?!"

"She's gone," Rhodey retorted.

"Gone, where? Where's the mission?"

"I don't know. Sara didn't get the specs for it because she didn't get to go after all."

"When does Pepper leave?"

"She already did."

"No! She didn't! She… no one would know when or how she leaves," Tony began pacing the room. "That's how they keep them a secret. She… she could be home right now. Or… in a plane… or at a bus stop on 45th street. I… I have to find her!"

"Tony, stop!" Rhodey rushed to his friend and stood by the door, yet again blocking his escape. " _Don't_ look for her!"

"I HAVE TO!" Tony's fists were shaking, holding back his need to punch Rhodey out of the way. "I can't just… not again… and she'll never know…"

"It's done, man," Rhodey said. "If you look for her… and if you do find her… you'll give her away. You don't know when or where you'll find her. And I'm sure you can, with all that tech you've got. But if you do, you'll blow her cover. You'll put her in even more danger. You don't want that. I know you don't."

Tony shook his head, hating that Rhodey was correct. "Do you know… how long?"

"If she comes back? About six months," Rhodey replied with a sad chuckle. "That's how I found out about the favor Pepper asked you, actually. Sara was on her way to accept the mission and overheard Pepper and Fury talking about it. He didn't want Pepper to go again so soon. He told her what you already know. That it was against protocol. That it would be unethical of him to let her go out into the field so soon. He… he even asked her what he could do to make her stay."

"And?"

Rhodey shook his head. "Sara said… she said that Pepper just told Fury to make sure he made it even to her by giving her an additional six months of paid maternity leave. I thought she was pregnant. I thought YOU had gotten her pregnant and didn't want the baby and that's why you guys weren't talking. I got mad that she was going and confronted her when she asked me to hold her will. I told her what Sara had heard. And then she told me truth. And I wanted to come punch your lights out last night. But Sara stopped me. She said you probably had a good reason to say: no."

"I did. I do."

"Bet it seems silly now, doesn't it?"

"No," Tony shook his head. "It doesn't. It seems even more justified, actually."

"It must be a helluva reason then."

"It is," Tony said with finality before he began walking towards the front door once more.

"Tony, please don't –"

"I won't," he assured the military man, half his body out the door already, his hand on the handle. "I just… I need be alone."

"Alright," Rhodey nodded in understand and did not try to stop the billionaire from walking out. He had a spare key to the inventor's condo anyway. He would make sure to lock it after him when recovered the will to walk.


	8. Chapter 7

**Guest Review Responses**

 **apps: Wishing you and your husband a very happy wedding anniversary Thanks again for posting 2 chapters back to back...dont want to say much because of heartbreak...but want you to gift your faithful readers with the happy ending of this story on your wedding anniversary... i am going to bed by keeping the hopes high to see the ending of the same coming by next morning...what say...enjoyyyyy your day dear** – Thank you so much :D Here's the final regular chapter for you :) The real ending will be posted tomorrow ^_^ I know you'll like it!

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Friday**

"You _weren't_ my first choice, Tony Stark!"

She was not supposed to be here at the moment, and yet she was. For a nanosecond, as he turned around in place to gaze at the entrance of the Makluan Temple, he thought that perhaps his mind, being in grief, was tricking him into believing that Pepper was not on a top secret, suicidal mission in an undisclosed location, far away from his reach. However, the utter outrage in her voice was all the proof he needed to believe that she _was_ here with him, and despite the hell he could sense coming and how unstable their friendship currently was, Tony could not hold back the smile that appeared on his face as he watched her stomp her way to him to stand five feet away from his current position.

"Pepper!" his arms instinctively lifted and aimed towards her, "You're back! You didn't go! I thought I'd never –"

"Save it, Stark! I'm not here for long," she pointed her right index finger at him while her left fist rested on her hip. "I just needed to make sure I set the record straight between us in case I die on that fucking mission I'm going on."

"You're still going on the mission?"

"I said: save it! You're gonna listen to me now!"

"Pep, I –"

"You _nothing_ , alright? Did you hear what I said when I came in? You weren't my first choice! You weren't even my second or third choice! You didn't even make the list!"

Tony opened his mouth to comment on her admission, but before he could get any words out, Pepper began letting out what she had been holding back for days.

"And you know why you weren't on the list? Because I knew you'd be the last person that would fit the bill of what I needed! For being part of something so important to me! I mean, yes: you're Tony Stark! You're strong and smart, and sweet and kind and caring and you're definitely not bad to look at," she shook her head left and right, "But that's not the point! The point is that all that charm is the reason why you were the _worst_ candidate for it!"

Pepper exhaled loudly, briefly covered her face with her hands to gather her thoughts, and then continued her venting.

"And, I understand why you said no. Or at least I thought I did until now. And, for the record, when a woman comes to you, especially one that has been your friend for over 14 years, and she asks if you would consider contributing a little DNA and fathering her child, the one thing you don't do is just blurt out: NO."

"Pepper, I –"

"Because that's just a slap in the face! The least you should do is say that you're flattered and ask for some time to think about it, even if you're only going to later respectfully _and_ nicely tell her that you're not comfortable being a donor! That's all you had to do! You didn't have to be so mean!"

Pepper chuckled bitterly when angry tears began forming in her eyes.

"Because you know what? You were my last hope to be a mom. I'm so _old_ , and you'll never understand what it feels to have your biological clock ticking so loudly it keeps you up at night! You will NEVER understand this and that's why I, at first, thought you had said: no. Because you think I haven't given this much thought – because you NEVER take me seriously!"

"Pepper, I do ta –"

"No! You don't! You have no idea how hard it was for me to come to this decision! You don't understand what it's like to be a woman that can't fulfill her genetic purpose in the world because I do what I love for a living. But what I love doesn't give me a chance to date! I'm always busy and in dangerous situations and I don't have time to maintain a serious relationship, and without that, I just couldn't see myself having a baby the normal way. And then…" Pepper wiped tears from her face, "And then I thought about this option. And I felt like I had a choice. I had a way to become a mother. I had a way to not be alone for the rest of my life and give someone the chance to come into the world…"

"Pepper…"

"And I didn't want some stranger to be the father. I wanted it to be someone my kid could one day look up to if the father wanted to. I… I-I don't have that many guy friends, and the ones I do weren't available. Rhodey is engaged. I haven't seen Happy in years… and even _I_ know you don't walk up to a guy you haven't hung out with in ten years and ask him to donate a couple of his best swimmers to you! And then there's Gene… but, well… it's Gene…"

The redhead sighed loudly, wiped more tears from her cheeks and then continued without taking a breath.

"And then there's you," she whispered and a weak smile appeared on her tear-stricken face. "And I didn't want to ask you because I know it's complicated for you. You've never shown any interest in wanting kids or a family and all you have are one-night stands… But I had no other choice but to ask you if I didn't want pick an anonymous donor and let a stranger be the father. And instead of letting me down easy, instead of considering my feelings and how difficult this is for me, all you thought about was your money, fame and freedom!"

" _What_? I NEVER –"

"YES, YOU DID!" she interrupted him for the nth time. "You thought I was going to hook you on child support payments or blackmail you or something! Just like all the other women tried! You didn't trust me! You thought I was trying to rip you off!"

"OK, that's enough!" Tony spat, his index finger now pointing at her. "I never said that, Pepper! It never even crossed my mind!"

"Yes, it did! There is no other logical reason why you would decline or do it the way you did! I know that now! I've been torturing myself for a week, thinking about what I did wrong. Wondering if I insulted you or took advantage of you somehow! But now I finally understand! Now I know why! You don't trust me! You think I'll extort you! You think I just want to take away your fortune! How could you think that of me? I thought we were friends!"

"We _are_ friends, Pepper! And that's –"

"No! You're wrong!" she shook her head. "We _were_ friends! We aren't friends anymore. That's… that's what I came here to say to you. I came to tell you I know why you didn't want to father my baby, that it was heartless and cowardly the way you said no, and that we can't be friends anymore. I can't… I just _can't_ be friends with a person that thinks so little of me," she turned on her heels, closed her stinging eyes and began walking away from Tony and towards the door. "Goodbye, Anthony Edward Stark."

"I love you!" his words made her stop in her tracks, but she did not dare to turn around and face him. "That's why I said no, Pepper. Because I love you."

Pepper swallowed hard, took in a deep breath, and slowly turned towards him once more. "What?"

"I love you, Pep," his tone of voice was soft. "I've loved you for years. And, the thing is: I don't want to just _give_ you a baby. I want you to _have_ my baby, but not like this. I want for us to be together for it. I want to marry you."

"Huh?" the redhead uttered, feeling the room starting to spin around her as her arms searched her surroundings, looking for a place to sit.

"Pepper, listen," he walked closer to her. "I'm 30-years old too, and the last time I went on a _real_ date was with Whitney Stane, in high school. Haven't you ever wondered why I've never had a serious girlfriend since then?"

Pepper rubbed her face with her hands, sat in the closest chair to process what she was hearing, and then finally gave her retort.

"I _have_ wondered about it. Sometimes. But-but I figured you were just too busy with your company and, you know, being a genius and a hero. If… if it wasn't for the one-night stands you have, I would've even considered that you might be gay."

"I'm not gay," he quickly replied. "Don't believe the media, OK? And, yes, I have been very busy in the past ten years… but so have you. More than me, actually, especially after you joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and still kept being Rescue when you weren't busy being a spy. But, the truth is that… that I was waiting for _you_ , Pepper. I've been waiting for you, all this time. And… and when you asked me for the favor…" he shook his head. "I just couldn't make myself give you a baby without having you by my side. And it shocked me so much when you asked. I just spat my answer out before thinking of how to explain why."

"Oh," she managed to say after a brief period of silence on her part.

"Yes," he gave her a small smile even though she was not staring directly at him. "Oh."

"Well," she cleared her throat. "I… I-I guess I shouldn't have forced myself to stop waiting for you to notice me."

Tony's heart broke in two on the spot. He had not been expecting that.

"Oh," he swallowed hard, looked away from her and to the side and began nervously scratching the edge of the worktable with this thumbnail. "I… I guess… I guess I didn't stop to think that you would ever –"

Whatever Tony was about to say was silenced by the feeling of her lips on his. It took Tony a fraction of a second to respond, but when he did, his arms ended up crushing her body against his as tightly as his lips clung to hers. He had waited years, over a decade, to have his redheaded friend right where she stood, and had it not been for how fast his heart was racing, the lightheadedness her hands roaming on his chest and neck were causing, and the fact that she had just passionately bit his lower lip, he would have thought he was only dreaming this bliss in the solitude of his lab – again.

"I never said I stopped loving you," she said in between gulps of breath, her forehead resting on his chin and her eyes half closed, "I just said that I had given up hope that you would ever love me."

Tony smiled, leaned down and to the side and kissed her one more time. In this encounter, however, the kiss was not as hungry as the first one had been. Yet, its gentleness and sweetness made it that much more Earth-shattering for the both of them. And it would have led them to a more comfortable place in the temple had Pepper's watch not just gone off.

"Oh, shit!" Pepper pulled away from him, her hands on his shoulders. "I have to go! I'm late for the departure!"

"What?" Tony frowned in confusion and pulled her closer to him by her waist. "What departure? Where are you going?"

"The mission, Tony! I need to leave now!"

"What?" Tony shook his head fiercely and tightened his grip on her. "You can't tell me you're still going to do that? Rhodey told me it was a one-way ticket!"

"ALL my missions are a ONE-WAY TICKET, STARK! Fury just doesn't want anyone to know they are!"

"THEN, DON'T GO! Stay here with me, Pep."

"Tony," she shook her head and then placed her right palm on his left cheek. "I can't. This is my job. I _have_ to go."

"But…" he began his reply, but he almost instantly shut his lips when he realized that asking her not to go on this mission would be something akin to her asking him not to be Iron Man.

"Six months," she said before she placed a quick kiss on his lips. "Can you wait six months?"

"Yes," he said without hesitation even though the weight on his chest was growing by the second at knowing he would have to let her go again. "I'll be here," he added as he grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. "But… before you go… and… this is _not_ how I wanted this go…"

Pepper furrowed her brows as she watched him run to the back room of the temple, only to then come back in less time than it took to blink. He then grabbed her hand as firmly as his shaking hands could, stretched her hand on his, and then placed the item he had gathered for her on it.

"I'll be waiting," his blue orbs locked with her hazel ones and she nodded in response.

Not trusting her voice to not break at his gesture, Pepper opted to pull his head closer to hers by resting her right hand on the back of his head, kissing him again, asking him to close his eyes while she left, and never looking back at the broken form of Tony Stark.


	9. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

The pilot gave her the all-clear, so she jumped off the back of the Quinjet without hesitation. She had spent days on the road already, trying to get to her destination, and she was damned if she was going to get the jitters now. The wind blowing on her face as she fell 40,000 feet at a rapid speed made her even more focused than she had been up until now – and at this rate, she knew that was a chief statement in its own regard.

The jumpsuit she was wearing helped her glide on her way down, allowing her to maneuver her body to adjust the location of her landing. She knew the exact position on the grid of where she had to nail the touchdown and it had to be surgically precise; otherwise, her time to achieve her objective would decreased significantly – perhaps so much as to even put a stop to the entire operation. She could not afford to do that. She was too close to wrapping up this mission, and all of the stakeholders were counting on her to do this right the first time.

 _"Viper, this is command,"_ she heard her pilot say in her ear. _"We noticed you haven't deployed the chute. Is everything alright? Over."_

"Command, this is Viper," she replied. "I've delayed deployment by ten seconds to achieve desired landing. Over."

 _"Viper, this is command. The forecasting model stated optimal landing was guaranteed about five seconds ago. Over."_

"Command, this is Viper. The forecasting model can kiss my ass. Over."

 _"Roger that, Viper,"_ the pilot said among a barely covered chuckle. _"Good luck and Godspeed. Command out."_

There was not one cloud in the sky, but the reflection of the bright sun coming from the waters on the Atlantic Ocean made her squint. She had tinted goggles on and had done this a million times, but this did not stop the churning feeling from knotting her stomach at the minuscule possibility that her reduced field of vision would affect her task. She swallowed hard when she finally pinpointed her moving target, and not ten seconds after she better positioned herself in the air, she pulled on the string that opened her parachute.

She could, literally, do this with her eyes closed, so when her feet touched the ground of the moving target, she smirked in a small show of overconfidence. She had memorized the ins and outs of her target eons ago, and she already had an entrance tactic ready to be implemented. She could have been blindfolded through the entire ordeal and still make it out in one piece, and not just barely, but with flying colors.

She tore the parachute from her jumpsuit, opened the manhole-looking cover on the roof of the structure, and then slid inside with no problem at all. The air conditioning duct was narrow and very much claustrophobic in nature, but she had been in worse situations. At least the cool air within it was flowing quite nicely, keeping her from sweating like a pig as she crawled her way to the vent she was searching for. It did not take more than three minutes to arrive to it, and once she did, she unscrewed the small metal grille, jumped down feet first, and surprised the shit out of the person standing a foot away from her landing stance.

"Time?" the redhead asked without hesitancy as she began taking off the bloodied, torn and dingy jumpsuit she had on.

"T-minus one minute," her partner-in-crime stated to her before he tapped his wireless earpiece and spoke into it. "Payload has been delivered. I repeat: payload has been delivered."

She fumbled with the jumpsuit a little bit, but by the time Rhodey turned around to face his friend again after getting confirmation that his communication had been received and accepted, Pepper was finishing patting down the clothes she had been wearing underneath.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yes. How do I look?" she quickly ran her fingers through her wavy hair.

Rhodey smiled, handed her the item he had been holding for her, and then brushed his left thumb against her cheek. "If I weren't a married man…"

"Oh, shush, Rhodey!" she felt her cheeks burn. "I'm serious! It's a million degrees out there and I've been on the road for _three_ days!"

"Pepper," he placed both of his hands on her upper arms, "You could be wearing that dirty jumpsuit and he'd still think you look beautiful."

Pepper looked down and away, bit her lower lip and then exhaled slowly to calm her nerves. "Thank you, Rhodey. For this… for everything."

"Least we could do for you, Pepper," he smiled, hugged her tightly in a mountain of gratitude he knew his words or actions could never fully express, and then finally pulled away. She watched him in silence as he disappeared behind the double doors before her, only to then see her father rush outside to meet her.

"Honey, you're here! Are you alright, sweetie? And don't you lie to me!"

"Dad!" the redhead was enveloped in another tight hug she was reluctant to break but knew she had to. "I'm fine, I swear. I'm fine."

"Well," Virgil nearly choked, cut his conversation short in the interest of time, offered his bent left arm to her, and then placed his right hand over her forearm once she laced her arm with his. "Let's do this, then."

Pepper nodded, took in a deep breath, and then followed her father's lead. The double doors to the Helicarrier's main event room opened wide after Virgil knocked on them twice, and the ginger was greeted by the sight of her closest family members and friends, all standing up and looking back at her. She tightened her grip on her bouquet of lilies, carnations and lavenders, allowed her eyes to scan the room, and then finally locked gazes with a pair of blue-eyes that had waited six months to see her again.

Her cheeks almost hurt at how much she was smiling, and while her father waited for the cue to begin their parade, all she could focus on was him – the man waiting for her at the end of the aisle. All she could see was his beaming face reflecting the same exciting and love-filled emotion she felt building within her; his electric blue eyes dancing up and down as he took in her petite form in the simple and short white dress she was wearing; and she swore she could hear his heartbeat in her ears, beating as fast as hers was: the heart of her groom and soon-to-be husband. Her one and only: her Tony Stark.


End file.
